


Beasts of prey

by Servena



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: F/M, Harrenhal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-25
Updated: 2013-07-25
Packaged: 2018-07-15 01:18:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7199612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Servena/pseuds/Servena
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At first Gendry thought he was seeing ghosts.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Beasts of prey

**Author's Note:**

> German: To see ghosts = To see something imaginary, something that's not really there

At first he thought he was seeing ghosts. Harrenhall was full of ghosts from the time Aegon the Conqueror had melted the towers with dragonfire and laid the castle to ruins. The servants were whispering about it, and the men, too few men for a castle this size, stayed close to their campfires at night. The wind that howled through the destroyed top of the Wailing Tower sounded like human voices, screaming as the fire devoured their bodies.

The ghosts that were haunting Gendry were different. He tried to drive them out by pounding on the damaged swords with his hammer, but the work, although exhausting, left him too much time to think. And then there was Arya, coming by in the evening, sitting on the bench, watching him. Her gaze burned holes into his back with those sharp grey eyes. And he wanted to say something, anything, but the sound of the hammer seemed to drown out his voice and in the end he kept silent. What was there to say? She was just a child. She wasn't aware of any of this, the way she chewed her lips, how her body moved when she practiced swordplay. And he shouldn't think about it either. He shouldn't, he shouldn't, he shouldn't.

But now, he didn't watch with a mixture of admiration and self-contempt, but with dread. How long until she would grow into a woman, until she would look like one? She couldn't hide behind the boyish clothes and the short hair forever. He saw the way the men treated the older serving girls, and it filled him with fear. And his worry only increased when he saw her with Jaqen H'ghar.

The Lorathi had seemed dangerous enough behind bars, watching him walk freely in a Lannister uniform was disturbing. The pretty hair and the polite way of talking didn't fool Gendry, he saw the predator underneath the surface quite alright. He had wondered why Arya had deemed him worthy of saving, but had put it down on a sudden feel of pity on her side, amidst all this chaos. But now he wasn't so sure.

He wasn't seeing ghosts, he realized soon. She looked at him with those wide grey eyes, full of admiration and curiosity and a bit of wariness. Not nearly enough wariness, Gendry thought. And he talked to her in his weird way, with a heavy accent and a light mocking smile on his lips. His eyes were of a cold blue to match her winter grey and he looked at her with way too much interest, like he tried to figure her out, like she was a riddle for him to solve. He had wondered how Arya could stand under his gaze if it unsettled him, watching from far away. But she had always been the braver of the two of them.

There was still time, he told himself. She was still a child, a lady of Winterfell, she needed to get home. They had to find a way to reach Riverrun and unite her with her family. And they would marry her to some Lord and he would never see her again. The thought made his chest burn and his fists clench, but she would be safe – safe and away from people like him. 

But time went by and they were still at Harrenhall, waiting for an opportunity that wouldn't come. He wanted to tell her to keep away from him, but she wouldn't listen to him anyway, never had. He is a wolf in the disguise of a sheep, he wanted to tell her. But he couldn't shake the feeling that she already knew, and that it was the wolf in herself that drew her to him. He was just a bull, but they were beasts of prey, made for killing.

And he could do nothing but watch helplessly as she slipped away.


End file.
